Flashback 2015: High profile political cases kept High Courts busy

New Delhi: AAP government's controversial odd-even scheme and its bitter power struggle with the Centre for the control of the national capital in 2015 echoed in Delhi High Court which also gave a body blow to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul by directing them to appear as accused in the National Herald case before a trial court.

Political battle at High CourtThe bitterness between the AAP and the Centre got worse after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made remarks allegedly defamatory concerning affairs of Delhi and District Cricket Association against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who sued him and his senior party colleagues for Rs 10 crore damages.

However, the political legal battle that would go down in history, was rejection of the pleas by Congress leaders Sonia, Rahul, and four others -- Suman Dubey, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandez and Sam Pitroda -- against the summons issued to them in Herald case for allegedly misappropriating funds of Rs 90.25 crore on BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's complaint.

Apart from the Congress leaders, AAP also faced several embarrassing moments in the high court due to the alleged fake degrees of its then Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar, Surender Singh and domestic violence case against former Law Minister Somanth Bharti. Other two MLAs, Jarnail Singh and Gulab Singh sought anticipatory bail in cases of assault.

While individual cases against its leaders brought bad name, the biggest embarrassment to AAP came when the high court rejected its much-hyped move to get power distribution companies audited by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

However, there were some cheers for the party as despite severe opposition to the odd-even scheme, the High Court did not stay the AAP government's move, saying its just a 15-day trial run.

High Court on pollutionMuch before the Delhi government came up with the odd-even scheme, the issue of air pollution was suo motu taken up by the High Court and it had ticked off both the Centre and the AAP government for failing to come up with a concrete action plan to combat the "emergency" like situation by terming air quality in the city as akin to that in a "gas chamber".

The High Court from time to time, passed several orders against cab companies, including Internet-based taxi service firms like Uber and Ola, directing them to operate only CNG vehicles.

As Kejriwal government was facing its ups and downs, Narendra Modi regime also got a setback over the issue of off-loading Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai, which the High Court held as "illegal".

However, later the focus in the Greenpeace-related matters shifted to the Madras High Court as the NGO, which was contesting the cancellation of its FCRA registration, was registered at Chennai.

The Central government also had tough time to defend its various policy decisions including 2014 coal auction ordinance with the High Court saying that "it lacked clarity" and faced searching questions on recent call drops compensation regulation which were challenged by the corporate sector.

High Court on Nirbhaya caseAmid all these developments, the horrific December 16, 2012 gangrape-cum-murder case continued to remain in the limelight as the High Court refused to stay the release of the juvenile offender who has now turned adult and the midnight effort of Delhi Commission for Women to seek the Supreme Court's intervention also failed.

High Court on political big-wigsAmong the political big-wigs who were embroiled in criminal cases are Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in a disproportionate assets case and ex-Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, also facing two graft cases. Former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala were awarded 10 year jail term in the teachers' recruitment scam case by the High Court.

Controversial Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav's son Vikas and his cousin Vishal's conviction in the Nitish Katara murder case was upheld by the High Court which enhanced the sentence of life imprisonment to 25 years without remission and extra five year imprisonment for destruction of evidence along with penalty of Rs 50 lakh each.

High Courts on Greenpeace caseAs Kejriwal government was facing its ups and downs, Narendra Modi regime also got a setback over the issue of off-loading Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai, which the High Court held as "illegal". However, later the focus in the Greenpeace-related matters shifted to the Madras High Court as the NGO, which was contesting the cancellation of its FCRA registration, wasregistered at Chennai.

High Courts on Central government's decisions The Central government also had tough time to defend its various policy decisions including 2014 coal auction ordinance with the High Court saying that "it lacked clarity" and faced searching questions on recent call drops compensation regulation which were challenged by the corporate sector.